Gregory: Shutdown threats are ‘government by crisis’

David Gregory, moderator of “Meet the Press,” weighed in with his perspective on a potential government shutdown, calling it similar to a “staring contest.” TODAY’s Erica Hill interviews David Gregory.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>david gregory
is moderator of "meet the press." good morning.

>>good morning.

>>as we look at this this morning, what is in this for the
republican party
? what do they gain with this shutdown?

>>they get an issue. that's about the best they can get, an issue they want to campaign on again next year. there may be individuals that may want to ride it to the nomination of the
republican party
in
2016
. they want to cast more attention on this. they are not moving votes. the bill is already unpopular according to most polls, the law, that is. they're not even gaining extra ground there based on what we're seeing this far.

>>the
cruz
caucus, as it's coming to be known, seems to be setting the agenda. you mention this could help them as they push into the next campaign season. does that
cruz
caucus hold its weight moving forward?

>>we'll have to seechlt senator
cruz
is my guest this morning. i'm curious what he does next. the goal of defunding or delaying the obama care is nowhere in sight. the protests can continue through a
government shutdown
, but the goal of changing the law is nowhere in site because they're not actually engaging -- they're not suggesting ways to improve upon the law or change the law substantially, that conversation hasn't happened yet.

>>david, real quickly, complaints from the
american people
is that it seems the only way to get anything done in washington so to bring it down by the wire, if not threaten, then end up shutting down government. is that the only way things get done now?

>>it seems to be, it's government by crisis. you had
defense secretary
hagel saying the country is becoming ungovernable by the way washington is behaving. the staring contest moves forward and the political chips will fall as it does.